Should I buy the $50 million house once owned by controversial businessman
Alan Bond
or the $20 million prime building site vacated by fallen fertiliser tycoon Pankaj Oswal?

That was the question facing West Australian mining executive Steve Wyatt.

Sources told The Australian Financial Review that Mr Wyatt made an offer of about $35 million for a home in Perth’s riverside suburb of Dalkeith, once owned by Mr Bond, months before making a play for Mr Oswal’s half-built mansion.

“You could say he’s got some cash lying around," said one property source. “This is no big deal for him. He could settle tomorrow morning."

Mr Wyatt is a founding shareholder of Perth-based mining services company
Mineral Resources
and he has a stake in the company now worth about $150 million.

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The Dalkeith home is owned by former goldminer Barry Patterson, who rejected Mr Wyatt’s offer after seeking close to $50 million.

The offer was presented by high-end Perth agent Mack Hall last year – although the property is not technically on the market.

Mr Patterson paid $9.5 million in 1999 for Mr Bond’s former home in Watkins Road, Dalkeith, although he has since spent millions upgrading it.

Mr Wyatt then turned his attention to the half-built mansion vacated by Mr Oswal and his wife Radhika, nicknamed “Taj-on-Swan". Mr Wyatt is understood to be negotiating for around the $20 million mark.